SAK on TV show

J

James Y

Joined
Feb 18, 1999
Messages
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I can't really recall if this came up before, but I was recently watching my favorite show, Doc Martin, a British comedy-drama series, and was surprised when an SAK played a role in an episode's storyline. It looked like a Victorinox Spartan.

Of course, I'm aware of SAKs shown in MacGuyver (sp?), Martial Law, The X-Files (early werewolf episode), Home Improvement, Into the Badlands, Survivorman, and even once on NCIS. I suppose The Simpsons Boy Scout episode could be included as well. And in the occasional movie (An American Werewolf in London, True Romance, Wolf Creek, Turistas, and one possibly glimpsed in Hannibal).

Jim
 
James Y said:
I can't really recall if this came up before, but I was recently watching my favorite show, Doc Martin, a British comedy-drama series, and was surprised when an SAK played a role in an episode's storyline. It looked like a Victorinox Spartan.

Of course, I'm aware of SAKs shown in MacGuyver (sp?), Martial Law, The X-Files (early werewolf episode), Home Improvement, Into the Badlands, Survivorman, and even once on NCIS. I suppose The Simpsons Boy Scout episode could be included as well. And in the occasional movie (An American Werewolf in London, True Romance, Wolf Creek, Turistas, and one possibly glimpsed in Hannibal).

Jim
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As another Doc Martin fan, I noticed it too. Pretty sure you are right about it being a Spartan. Also, I saw some of the other shows you list, and noticed the SAKs there, too. I guess that makes us both SAKseekers, doesn't it? :D

An interesting thing about the "Doc Martin" SAK, though, is that it belonged to a rough crude countryman type who had just before held the kidnapped Doc at gunpoint, and yet the kind of guy to have kept the blade sharp enough for the doctor to perform an emergency tracheotomy. Nor did the SAK appear to have been abused. Yeah, TV production, but you notice these things. As a photographer, it drives me nuts to see how cameras are mishandled in films by characters supposed to be professional photographers - press, studio, even hobbyists - sort of distracts me out of the movie/video. Also guns. Given the incredible attention to detail in this film, "Saving Private Ryan" should have been perfect in the firearms department, but was not.

I will bet there are a gajillion items mishandled in motion pictures that are noticed by specialists in those areas but over the heads of the rest of us. Maybe that's a good thing. Out of ignorance we accept their reality and enjoy the shows.
 
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I've never heard of that show , but there was a sak featured on last weeks episode of bones.
This very "quirky" psychologist pulled one out of her purse and used it to slice her hand open and prove that their suspect was too afraid of blood to ever murder anyone.
It seems like Saks are a knife that's safe to feature in any TV show.
There are shows that are so anti gun / knife that that won't even depict kids playing with toy guns, but would likely feature a sak at some point. ( I can't name any shows specifically, but those type of people do create shows or run networks and their beliefs do affect programming )
I'll bet you may at some point see a kid on Barny using a sak.
 
Thanks for the replies, guys!

Yes, SAKs are generally considered "friendly" and less scary knives, but I'm just happy to see them, or knives in general, used at all in a practical manner on TV or film. Regarding tools/instruments, I'm OK with suspension of disbelief for TV/film, as long as it doesn't cross over into the completely absurd.

Znapschatz, I often find myself looking for knives in TV and film. I just really did not expect to see one in Doc Martin, and was happily surprised. He (the Doc Martin character) referred to the SAK as a "penknife". I could be wrong, but it seems like in the UK, "penknife" is a catch-all word for any folding pocketknife.

Oddly enough, 4 of the 5 movies I listed are horror/suspense movies. And in at least 2 of the movies (True Romance and Turistas), the SAK was used as a weapon.

Jim
 
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znapschatz said:
As another Doc Martin fan, I noticed it too. Pretty sure you are right about it being a Spartan. Also, I saw some of the other shows you list, and noticed the SAKs there, too. I guess that makes us both SAKseekers, doesn't it? :D

An interesting thing about the "Doc Martin" SAK, though, is that it belonged to a rough crude countryman type who had just before held the kidnapped Doc at gunpoint, and yet the kind of guy to have kept the blade sharp enough for the doctor to perform an emergency tracheotomy. Nor did the SAK appear to have been abused. Yeah, TV production, but you notice these things. As a photographer, it drives me nuts to see how cameras are mishandled in films by characters supposed to be professional photographers - press, studio, even hobbyists - sort of distracts me out of the movie/video. Also guns. Given the incredible attention to detail in this film, "Saving Private Ryan" should have been perfect in the firearms department, but was not.

I will bet there are a gajillion items mishandled in motion pictures that are noticed by specialists in those areas but over the heads of the rest of us. Maybe that's a good thing. Out of ignorance we accept their reality and enjoy the shows.
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I notice that all of the time with everything on TV , weather a hammer a knife or other miscellaneous tool, they're always brand new like they just grabbed it off a hardware shelf.
And we're supposed to believe that it's something that is owned and used by whoever is wielding it.
On one Show I guy gave his son the pocketknife he had as a kid and it was brand new, and another someone pulls out their trusty old buck 110 that was also fresh of the shelf.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I notice that all of the time with everything on TV , weather a hammer a knife or other miscellaneous tool, they're always brand new like they just grabbed it off a hardware shelf.
And we're supposed to believe that it's something that is owned and used by whoever is wielding it.
On one Show I guy gave his son the pocketknife he had as a kid and it was brand new
Click to expand...

I saw an episode of the new Hawaii Five-O where an FBI(?) agent gives a cop's son his pocketknife that made him feel safe as a kid. It, too, looked to be in mint condition. I believe it was a scout knife of some sort.

Jim
 
Hickory n steel said:
I notice that all of the time with everything on TV , weather a hammer a knife or other miscellaneous tool, they're always brand new like they just grabbed it off a hardware shelf.
And we're supposed to believe that it's something that is owned and used by whoever is wielding it.
On one Show I guy gave his son the pocketknife he had as a kid and it was brand new, and another someone pulls out their trusty old buck 110 that was also fresh of the shelf.
Click to expand...

Fair point, but I have noticed that often, when I photograph one of my well used SAKs, it comes out looking much better in the pic than it does in real life. I'm thinking you would have to really nasty up a tool or knife to look on screen like it has had any use at all. Also, in the case of the trusty old Buck knife, very often they get some use during hunting season, but none during the rest of the year. I have a couple of hunting friends who are just that way with their knives. It is possible to have one come out looking presentable after quite a few seasons. Or, do what most people do; suspend reality, unless you can't. That's the curse of knifeknuttery. Well, one of them, anyway.
 
znapschatz said:
Fair point, but I have noticed that often, when I photograph one of my well used SAKs, it comes out looking much better in the pic than it does in real life. I'm thinking you would have to really nasty up a tool or knife to look on screen like it has had any use at all. Also, in the case of the trusty old Buck knife, very often they get some use during hunting season, but none during the rest of the year. I have a couple of hunting friends who are just that way with their knives. It is possible to have one come out looking presentable after quite a few seasons. Or, do what most people do; suspend reality, unless you can't. That's the curse of knifeknuttery. Well, one of them, anyway.
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Sometimes you can just tell that a knife is actually brand spankin' new, like when the brass bolsters and pins are still shiny or it's supposed to be old but is a current model.
I can understand how it may be difficult for wear to show up on camera though.
 
Can't believe you guys get Doc Martin across the pond ha ha.

I am sad to say I saw one to recently not on a TV show but on......... Alvin and the Chipmunks ha ha. My daughter was watching it and she said "Daddy Alvin has a knife like yours".
I laughed out loud at the conversation
 
Pattas29 said:
Can't believe you guys get Doc Martin across the pond ha ha.
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I've been watching it on public TV for about the past 4 years. It's gradually become my favorite TV show, period.

Not a SAK, but does anyone remember the scout knife in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre? It belonged to the guy in the wheelchair, and it was his prized possession. I thought it looked like a Camillus scout knife. And if I remember correctly, from what I could see of it, it didn't necessarily look new.

Jim
 
James Y said:
I've been watching it on public TV for about the past 4 years. It's gradually become my favorite TV show, period.

Not a SAK, but does anyone remember the scout knife in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre? It belonged to the guy in the wheelchair, and it was his prized possession. I thought it looked like a Camillus scout knife. And if I remember correctly, from what I could see of it, it didn't necessarily look new.

Jim
Click to expand...

Its been maybe 6 months since I last saw that movie, but I definitely remember it and when that wackjob cut his hand open with it, then slashed the guy with a straight razor.
I don't remember exactly what it looked like, but it didn't look too brand new.
 
Franklin's (the guy from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) knife didn't look new at all; the blade was practically black. I think it was a Camillus scout knife, too. As I recall none of the tools or knives in that movie looked particularly new.
 
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